Dan and I went on a trip around the top of NY state and into Vermont. It was really fun. I stuffed in all my summer items that I had wanted to do since May. Here are the highlights and interesting lights of the trip:

Night 1- A nice dinner with Dan, Lita and Justin. We had just the right amount of food and almost no leftovers.

Day 2- At the Renaissance Fair, I got a sword, one wet hug, and Lita got to see a falconer. At the end of the day I was served pizza on a plate. By accident or design I was given a plate with the words “group shower after work” and a picture of three stick figures with lines above them. Nice.
We stayed in an unremarkable yet totally acceptable Watertown hotel.

Day 3-We traveled towards Plattsburgh slowly. We stopped at a mall that bore an uncanny resemblance to the Plattsburgh mall. We even joked that where the mall opened up to a larger section we would find a JCPenney and Gizmo*. To our surprize and delight, there was such a section with JCPenney and Gizmo.
Later we discovered a zoo that had cute wolf pups and a huge bear. Also we saw owls being fed whole dead chicks. I didn’t like the fire tower.
We ate dinner/lunch by a stream down the road from Stewarts.

Day 4-Got a nice tan** at Ausable Point beach. I got more water time than my sister.
We had dinner with Suzanne and Paul at the Naked Turtle restaurant. I miss them here in Albany.

Day 5- Morning with mom, then on the road again. We went on a Caves and Waterfalls tour of Ausable Chasm. (why doesn’t my family live in Ausable?) I should say it was more of a Cave and Waterfall tour, but I don’t really mind. We got to climb around on dangerous rocks and see an old power station. The title of my post is about this tour. We didn’t die.
The Port Kent ferry has a lovely little beach for my toes.
A nice dinner in Burlington and Ben and Jerry offers a free movie in the middle of Church St.- An American Tail. Vermont is so cool.

Day 6- I went swimming in the morning at our wierd hotel. I was the only one there. I didn’t drown.
Dan and I saw an aquarium that was more of an aquarium center. I stood in a hurricane simulator. It made my eyes feel wierd.
At lunch I had a turkey club with no bacon- that’s just a turkey, right?
We stopped to look at Teddy Bears, flowers, a mountain and a fair. We stayed so late we needed another hotel. The demolition derby rocks!

Day 7- Let’s go home I am so tired. We stopped for lunch in NY state at a place called Man from Kent. We like it, but I’m pretty sure that without the outdoor seating it’s just another towny bar.

Final notes: Dan grew a kick a$$ beard that he’s still working on.
and
We finally found out what all those triangle purple things in the trees were. They are traps to catch Emerald Ash Borer bugs. They are an invasive species and the DEC is monitoring them to see how many are here. The one we saw up close had a TON of bugs stuck to it.

*Those who are not familiar with Gizmo: It is a large machine/art-work that delivers pool balls along a track which randomly splits into several paths and eventually converge again to start over. Along the way the balls encounter turns, jumps, and musical percussive elements which make it very amusing to watch and listen to.
**Ok it was more of a burn. Ouch!

I have an update for my list of things I have decided to do
This is the current list in no order of importance

1) Be in a graveyard at midnight
2) Have ice cream from a Friendlies window in winter
3) Enter a tattoo parlor (yeah just enter it, well I’ve never done that!)
4) Create a remix
5) Eat escargot

Next list

A list of songs everyone should listen to:
Does your chewing gum lose it’s flavor
The witch doctor
Any Beatles song from a non-trippy album
Any Rolling Stones song
Any Michael Jackson song

And finally!

List of songs I found on you tube and absolutely love:
I got a jar of dirt- Captain Neon
Why is the rum gone?- DaJugglingFool
They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard- Erwin Beekveld
I put a spell on you- the Sanderson Sisters

In case there is any question later, I have sent out letters to DH and KH. Thank you for your kind attention.

Dan and I went to a Ben Folds concert over a month ago. It was fun. I am just finishing my write-up of it. Here is what happened:

Opener band = Hotel Lights
The lead for this band is from Ben’s original group Ben Folds Five. They sounded decent, but kind of slow. I was bored. I told Dan they reminded me of sloshy.

Opener number two = Guster
They were very good. I only recognized one song, and it was only the chorus I knew, but I really liked their sound. It was hot. They did a small piece of Don’t Fear The Reaper and at one point used a sound effect the lead singer called “the T Pain sound”. I’m not gonna try to explain that- go look it up! It does sound pretty cool.

The Real Show = Ben Folds
In addition to Lindsay and Jared he had two other backup players this time. It was a great set and as Dan said he was very “on” for this show. I will now give you the set list as I remember it with brief details on how each song was.

Jesusland
The usual- like the CD.

Effington
Live version is a little less pounding than the CD is.

Brainwashed (real)
The word ‘real’ denotes that this was released on the real album Ben spent months on, rather than the ‘fake’ album Ben released as a gag which was done in one day.
Good song, now we’re getting a little more hardcore.

Annie Waits
Classic Ben Folds. He does this one at concerts often.

Sentimental Guy
First time I remember hearing this live. S’okay.

Free Coffee (real)
Ok, this song was cool because Ben showed us how he made the sound on the CD. You take metal altoid tins and place them on the piano strings. You hold your hand on the strings and add a sound changer (it adds a slightly more electronic feeling). Then you play. I have to tell you this sound effect really sucks on the CD, but it sounds awesome live.

Landed
I love this song. No complaints.

Bitch Went Nuts (fake)
This song is so much better than the real one. Again very hardcore and poundy. I was hoping for some creative re-lyricking, but Ben doesn’t get to that until later in the concert.

Zak and Sara
I was the only one in our section (maybe in every section?) who clapped at the appropriate times to the CD version of the song. I am a bigger Ben Folds snob than all y’alls!

You Don’t Know Me
Hey cool, Lindsay sounds just like Regina Spektor. As produced as this song is on CD, it sounds really great live.

Alice Childress
Good song, nothing unusual

Dr Yang (fake)
The next three songs I am dancing too hard to pay attention to the song itself.

Dr Yang (real)
Dancing

Hiroshima
Still dancing!

Fred Jones Part 2
This song is slow. Alot of the audience sat down. I believe it was after this one that Ben shared a little tidbit with us. He said we were a cool audience. Usually, he said, he is not able to get through a quiet song without having someone shout “show us your dick!” And apparently it’s usually a dude shouting. Nice.

Lullaby
I don’t remember ever hearing this one live before. It was really great and special for Dan and me since the song is one we listened two as a couple when we were dating.

Brick
This time I liked this song although normally it dosn’t do much for me.

Not the Same
Ben didn’t really tell us he was going to give us notes, or the name of the song. He just went, “Ok the lowest voices sing this- now try it. The middle voices sing this- ok go ahead. The highest voices sing this- alright. All, three, parts, together now.” And of course we all went crazy with excitement because we love crowd participation songs. It was really fun.

Rockin the Suburbs
I didn’t recognize this one at first. Dan says he plays it different every time we hear it live. I sounds nothing like the CD. And Ben often leaves out words allowing the audience to fill them in.

Army
Another audience participation song. Ben did not ask us to sing, but at the appropriate spot he said, “Ok Syracuse, let’s see what the #@&* you got!” Then he jumped away from the piano and the band cut playing so we could sing. He does this song almost every concert so most people knew what to do.

Bastard
No participation in this one. We’re winding down.

Gracie
Ben intro’ed this one by saying that the guys from Guster just had new baby daughters at the same time and how very “rock’n’roll” that was.

Narcolepsy
You know I used to absolutely hate this song (I think I’m allowed one!) but it’s not so bad anymore. Except of course for the fact that he plays it so damn loud.

Fair
First song of the encore. Of the songs he could have chosen I’m glad he went with an older one.

One Angry Dwarf
This song is really cool. Ben played it at about a hundred miles an hour though. It sounded a little jammed in, but it was nice of him to play it for us. At the very end he used these words instead of the lyrics:
Thank you very much Syracuse! Thank you very much Syracuse! Thank you very much Syracuse!

Well,
Thank you very much Ben Folds! And good show!

Occasionally I will mix up names of famous people without knowing I am using the wrong name. Sometimes they are in the same field and sometimes they really have nothing in common. Here are some names I have substituted for each other:

Fred Newman and Paul Newman

Rex Harrison and Harrison Ford

Mel Gibson and Mel Brooks

Jack Black and Jack White

Nancy Drew and Nancy Kerrigan

In other news:
I was trying to ask Dan if he wanted to watch America’s Test Kitchen. I think I tried to say the words “recipe” and “episode” at the same time. Well, what I said was, “Are you going to watch another repicisode?”

And it’s been way way too long for me to still be feeling exhausted. My head aches, my legs are tired, I still have a slight cough and my gastroparesis is out of control. It started out like a cold but I am at a total loss as to why it’s not gone yet. It has been one month and three days and I’ve missed clusters of days at work three times now. Tomorrow I will probably make it four. I am debating telling them that I am staying home until further notice and taking all my sick time and emergency time now in attempt to get myself better. Only I have no idea how long I should stay home. My latest break from work lasted 6 days and didn’t cure me. I felt better, even gave myself an extra day, then showed up to work and started to feel worse again. Right now I am feeling so crummy I can’t get to sleep. Hence this post. There Dan. I can use hence too.

Watching a bootleg of Star Wars III in Thai with English subtitles was more hilarious than I expected. Sometimes the subtitles were right on, but other times they were totally messed up. Here are some of my favorites.

Anakin describing the Sith vs Jedi mentalities:
The Chedar are selfless they only care about others.
The Sith rely on their passion for the string.

Palpatine talking about a Sith apprentice who killed his master:
Unfortunately he told his plaintiff everything he knew.
Then his plaintiff killed him in his sleep.

Obi Wan lands on a planet and is greeted:
Greeting John Jedi.

More about the Chedar:
The Chedar are use their power for good.
Have you spoken to the Chedar council?

Senator Organa giving away R2 and 3PO:
I’m placing this doll in your car.

Obi Wan has just defeated Anakin:
You’re my further king. I love you.

My very favorite- Anakin says the following to Padme:
Sometimes I wonder what happened to that Jed I ordered.

Sesame Street had 130 episodes per season from season 1- season 29
Seasons 30-32 had 65 episodes
Season 33 had only 50 episodes
Season 34 and all seasons after have 26 episodes
There will not be fewer than 26 episodes because each episode features one letter and there are 26 letters to feature.

Priggidy Prizom dates for the teen girl squad ect
Cheerleader + Cheerleader Brian
So and So + Open Source Greg
Whatsherface + SciFi Greg
The Ugly One + D’n’d Greg
(Japanese culture Greg doesn’t attend the Prom; he instead hangs out with a female robot which later kills him)

A list of classics from high school English class, these are the ones I have not yet read:
Hard Times -Dickens
Bleak House -D
Grapes of Wrath -Steinbeck
A Farewell to Arms -Hemingway
For whom the bell tolls -H
The Sun also Rises -H
Armageddon -Uris
Battle Cry -U
Exodus -U
Milla 18 -U
The Deerslayer -Cooper
Leatherstocking Saga -C
The Last of the Mohicans -C
The Spy -C
The Pioneers -C
The Prarie -C
Billy Bud -Melville
Dr Zhivago -B. Pasternak
This Side of Paradise -Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby -F
Tender is the Night -F
Anna Keranina -Tolstoy
Jamaica Inn -Du Maurier
Crime and Punishment -Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov -D
The Thorn Birds -C. McCullough
Madame Bovary -Flaubert
Sons -Buck
Dragon Seed -Buck
The Living Reed -Buck
Mandala -Buck
Dracula -Stoker
I am the Cheese -Cormier
The Chocolate War -C
Noble House -Clavell
Roots Haley
Centennial -Michener
Hawaii -M
Chesapeake -M
Alaska -M
Carribean -M
A Separate Peace -Knowles

Also
If anyone knows where I placed my list of Moby Dick chapter notes please tell me. I seriously had a really great post all ready to go and then I lost the notes. I mean I know they are in the house somewhere…

One for the road:
Soil and indigo! I’m a loser baby so why don’t you kill me?

An interesting (and probably should have been frightening) thing happened to me during Dan’s stay at the hospital. I was extremely tired (like very very sleep deprived) and driving home. Suddenly I realized that I was in a car driving home. Ok. In order to realize I am in a car driving home I had to actually forget I was in a car driving home. I’ve had experiences where I forget a stretch of roadway, but on some level of my consciousness I always knew what I was doing. This experience was more like I let myself daydream a little then lost track of reality for a minute. When I woke out of it I seriously had to tell myself, “Oh yeah. You ARE in a car. And you ARE driving it home.”
It’s been making me wonder how close to sleep one can get without sleeping- where is the edge of the line you step over when falling asleep?

Other thoughts about sleep: I keep meeting famous people who I’ve been thinking about. Usually it’s in some normal situation in which they just happened to be my coworker or acquaintance. For instance, after the Ben Folds concert I had a dream we were working at the lab together. Normal lab things happened and he looked at some test results for me. When I woke up I felt like I had gotten to hang out with Ben.

And Lucid Dreaming: This topic also makes me sing a Franz Ferdinand song. Lucid dreams are the kind in which you realize you are dreaming. I have them sometimes. I read about them a tiny bit and learned some people use checks to determine whether they are dreaming, such as looking at a watch twice and noting the time. In a dream the watch does not make sense. I decided my check was to look at my feet because that has never happened in a dream. BUT, two nights ago I had a dream about putting on socks!! So much for that.

I got an email from Afjtqsa. At least that’s what the sender line said. I didn’t really read it, because I don’t know any Afjtqsa. I do feel like he or she is missing a couple of vowels from their name. How do you even pronounce that?

Dan and I caught part of the movie Octopussy on TV. The one bad guy who looks a little bit like Bond came in the room. Dan said, “That’s Octopenis.”

Octopussy’s two henchwomen appear, each wearing a red bodysuit with a white circular emblem on them. I said, “Thing one and thing two!”
(I’ll get Dan to put in a link to a picture so you can see what I mean)

At work we have bomb threat cards near the phone. In case someone calls in a bomb threat we are to ask them the questions on the card. For fun I sometimes say the questions to myself with another word in the place of bomb. Like this:

Sandwich Threat Questions

1) When is the sandwich going to explode?
2) Where is it right now?
3) What does it look like?
4) What kind of sandwich is it?
5) What will cause it to explode?
6) Did you place the sandwich?
7) Why?